Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Is the score accurate?

My ds was tested using the wppsi-III when he was 3.11. Because the norms for this test start at 4.0 i'm wondering if his score may be an underestte and if so how much?

I was also told that "another version" of the wppsi that could've been used and goes up to 3.11 wouldn't have given as much information but i'm wondering how his scores would've compared. My understanding is that the younger version uses less subtests but they are actually a subset of the older test. Is there anyway of calculating a fsiq from these subtests?

Why was he tested?

I am pretty sure the norms are in 3 month blocks, not month by month. So all kids are being measured against norms that are an approximate bracket, not to the month accurate.

My understanding is that testing on kids that young is pretty wildly inaccurate anyway....

That's my understanding too. I've also heard that for a reliable estimate of IQ it's best to wait until children are older - around 7 or 8. In my family's very *very* small statistical sampling, our one child who took the WPSII was tested at a very young 5, and her scores were an overestimate.

I'm also curious why a 3 year old was tested - it seems so young! Was it for school or was it part of an analysis for something else? Were you just curious?

Best wishes,

polarbear

The recommended age seems to vary with test and tester but I have never heard anyone recommending 3.

I know people who've tested at just before 4 for school entry reasons. If you believe your child needs early entry you must have scores go back it up (where I live) and depending on your child's birthdate the time line for all that paperwork can mean the testing has to be done by 4yrs, give or take a few months. My HG+ DD we first tested at 4y9m and that was at least 6 months too late to get her early entry, by then we were fighting for her to go to yr 1 after 6 months of k instead of 18 months (our state has a weird school entry system).

That makes sense. Early entry is forbidden in NZ by the education act so it doesn't come up. My son took part in the morning for the WPPSI4 norming last month at 4.3 and will be tested on the WJ111 cognitive before he turns five next may. This is a bit early but pearsons don't tell her the scores and she thought he probably ought to be tested before he started school.

I have heard of some pre-schools over there testing too. I really wanted to know if there was a behavoir that made her want to test.

Ps mumof3 the decision to test him before school is based on his birthday being after the cut off for going straight into NZ y1. He would normally have to do 3 terms in Y0 followed by 4 in year 1 whereas ds6 whose birthday was 5 weeks earlier did 3 terms in y1 then straight into year 2. Strangely enough due to a late Easter in 2007 and ds6 waiting until after Easter to start they will both a actually start on the first day of the second term. My son is frustrated as the youngest in year 2, i can't imagine what he would be like in year 1.

Thanks for the replies. We had him tested at 3.11 because any later would have meant risking the chance to gain early entry into school. I would've preferred to have waited until he was older. He got quite tired and distracted towards the end - 1.25 hours straight, 10 mins break then another 20 mins. The psych would not test him over 2 sessions. Would this have been more illustrative of his true abilities? Just wondering if it could be an underestimate because of these factors

My son was tested at 3 1/2 with the Weschler because of developmental delays and I think his full-scale IQ was 106, with verbal being 90 something. Fast forward 2.5 years, and he had a traumatic brain injury and there was still a concern about delays, so I took him to a neuropsych who tested him again, this time the WISC IV, and his verbal score was 118 and non-verbal was 141. He said the non-verbal score is an underestimate because one of the sub-tests was timed and involved arranging little blocks (my son has pretty massive fine motor coordination issues). So no, IQ tests on a 3 year old are basically meaningless, considering how much his score went up in 3 years. Not only is the test not reliable but IQ itself changes due to development and brain maturation throughout early childhood, with some high scoring kids dropping, and others with delays going up. I'm not sure how accurate his score is at age 6, either.
My son was very squirrely with both tests at both age 3 and age 6 (for instance not staying in his chair) and was actually giving wrong answers on purpose at age 3. The point of testing at age 3 was just to rule out serious issues (like mental retardation), not to try to identify him as gifted.